The conference itself runs from March 13 through 17 and my presentation will be on March 14 at 12:30 PM. It’ll be on the Day Stage on the top floor of the Austin Convention Center. If you can come, please do! I’d love to meet you. Please RSVP on Facebook, if you can.

We’re about six weeks or so away, so I want to start thinking about what I will be talking about. That’s where you come in! I would love your feedback on what you’d like me to talk about. I have a pair of ideas myself, but I could go in a totally different direction, as well. Please keep in mind that I have 20 minutes, no more, and that I would like to fit in a little time for Q&A, if I could, in that 20 minute span. Though, I can always answer questions when I am off stage and that might be for the best. Anyway, here are the options.

1. “The Art of Responding to Feedback From Your Community”

This talk would be based on a post I wrote recently, that I felt was really well received. Basically, it’s a simple, 3 step system to handling feedback from members. I could go through the 3 steps, in brief and (maybe?) show some example messages in my slides.

2. “Taking Your Community Back From the Trolls”

There seems to be this prevailing notion with some people that eventually, all communities will be infested with trolling. And that you have to allow people to say some nasty things because you can’t hold your members to high standards. Because, if you do, you’ll scare them off, lose your traffic, lose your ad revenue and be unable to justify your community to the boss.

I don’t believe this is true. I believe that community administrators and managers can take a stand, can have a vision for their community, one that is free of trolls and can shut those people down through solid guidelines, consistent enforcement and a willingness to ban.

3. “Your Idea”

I’d love to hear your idea, too. What would you like me to talk about? Maybe you read the book and a specific part resonated, a part you would like to see me talk about in person. Or, maybe you just have a random thought. Whatever it is, please detail it in the comments and I promise to consider it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and offer me your feedback. I really appreciate it. And I look forward to seeing you at the conference.

One year ago today, I launched ManagingCommunities.com. It had been a site that I had wanted to launch for some time, as community management is a subject that I am passionate about and I had a lot to talk about and a lot of experiences that I wanted to share.

In light of this moment, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported ManagingCommunities.com during this initial year. Everyone who has visited, read, linked, commented, offered some feedback or helped in some other way. I really appreciate it. I look forward to what lay ahead in 2009.

Some feedback is easy to take. Someone makes an awesome suggestion that makes a ton of sense or simply loves what you are doing and wants to tell you so. Some feedback isn’t as easy – someone doesn’t like something you’ve done and wants to let you know about it. As long as they aren’t overly disrespectful or crude, they deserve a reply, like anyone else. But, regardless of what it is, you can respond to feedback in three easy steps.

Step 1: Appreciate

First and foremost, appreciate it. Appreciate that they are offering their thoughts and that they took the time to do so. Express this clearly and in the simplest of terms. “Thank you for writing. I appreciate your feedback and your perspective.” Do you want people to provide you with feedback? Then act like it. Thank them for it.

Step 2: Acknowledge

Take the time to read what they say and consider their position and where they are coming from. Once you understand what they are suggesting, say so. “I understand what you are saying.” “I can see what you mean.” Emphasize with them, honestly. If you do not understand what they mean, ask them questions to find out more, so that you can get the compete picture.

Step 3: Consider

Finally, since you have expressed your appreciation and acknowledged and understood what they said, consider their suggestion or feedback. See the value in what they are saying. Consider how it would impact the community and how feasible it is. Don’t feel inclined to do it if you do not feel that it is the right thing to do or that it would require an effort that you cannot commit, at this time. There is nothing wrong with this. There is nothing wrong with being honest with yourself and the limitations of your time.

We all have an idea of what we would like our moderators to do and how we want them to act. In deciding these things, we are also able to figure out how we don’t want them to act. Sometimes, we realize this by seeing other moderators behaving badly. With this in mind, here are 10 moderator behaviors that I would never want to see from my moderators.

I think you should avoiding locking topics in general. If a post is bad, it’s removed. Not closed. You don’t close threads and leave problem posts in public as that sends the wrong message. But, there is a time and place for locking threads. And when that is done, it should be done gracefully.

Locking topics shouldn’t be an act of provocation. It’s not a statement as to your dominance of the forum. That should be conveyed. Posting something like “Locked.” just sends a totally wrong message. It’s unprofessional, condescending and crass.

Individuality in people is a great thing. We’re all different and those differences are what makes life either difficult or awesome. If we were all the same, it’d be boring.

Moderation individuality is when a moderator decides that policies that have been set for moderators can be circumvented and that the moderator is free to make decisions against them and do what they want. It could be deciding not to document something, deciding something isn’t a violation when it clearly is, or something else. Whatever it is, it causes a lack of consistency in decisions, leading to confusion from members and staff alike. If done knowingly, it’s insubordination.

When I found out that I would be coming to the Los Angeles area for a short time, I wanted to try to meet up with some people in the area. So, I was talking to my friend Ricardo Bueno who lives in the city and we were going back and forth about it and… long story short, he agreed to plan a Tweetup (basically, a meet up of Twitter users). But, it’s not just for Twitter users – it’s for anyone who works online, is interested in social media, etc. Of course, I’ll be coming, along with 3 copies of “Managing Online Forums” to giveaway.

It’ll be on January 14, from 6 PM to 9 PM local time, at BJ’s Brewhouse and Restaurant in Glendale. We are going to have dinner, but if you just want to have drinks or stop by for a short time – that’s perfectly fine. And if you don’t drink, don’t worry – neither do I! :)

If you live in the Los Angeles area or, at least, are in town on that day, I’d love to meet you. Please RSVP on Facebook and/or Upcoming. We already have a number of people set to come, but the more – the merrier! A big thanks to Ricardo for doing the ground work on this.

Locked topics have a purpose on most communities. I try to avoid them, except in specific circumstances, but they have a place and they are a tool in a moderator’s arsenal. What I want to discuss today isn’t the locking of topics in itself, but what one says when they lock a topic.

When you lock a topic, you should have a legitimate reason that you can politely convey, in a final reply to the thread. For example:

Hey guys,

We actually have another discussion on this very same subject that was recently active, so I am going to go ahead and close this one and redirect you over to that one.

Unfortunately, sometimes people don’t take the time to politely explain. Often times, these folks include a sentence like “Locked.” or “Lockey lockey.” in their post. This is ugly and lazy. Closing threads should be done with grace. Not with condescending and flippant remarks or statements that basically say “I’m a moderator, I can close this thread – I just did. Too bad.” The lock thread option isn’t a toy, it should be used for specific reasons and not as a flight of fancy.

If you run a community, make sure that you define when you want your moderators to use the close thread functionality and how they should do so.

Closing Question: Without citing specific names, websites or links, what is the worst example of moderator gone mad topic locking that you have ever seen?